Monkey King: Hero Is Back (Chinese: 西游记之大圣归来; pinyin: Xīyóu jì zhī dà shèng guīlái; literally: 'Journey to the West: Return of the Great Sage') is a 2015 Chinese computer-animated film directed by first time director Tian Xiaopeng.^[3] The film was released on 10 July 2015.^[4] The film was the highest-grossing animated film in China until it was surpassed by Zootopia and Kung Fu Panda 3.^[5][6]

Plot[edit]

The all-powerful Monkey King, Sun Wukong, once roamed freely between Heaven and Earth, but after angering & defying the Gods and defeating the heavenly army, he is imprisoned by Buddha within an ice cage deep within the mountains.

Jul 03, 2006  50+ videos Play all Mix - monkey king song YouTube. The Monkey King: Quest for the Sutra Theme Song - Duration: 3:31. Chinesedrama123 64,353 views. The Monkey King, known as Sun Wukong in Chinese, is a legendary figure best known as one of the main characters in the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West (西遊記 / 西游记) and many later stories and adaptations. The Monkey King's origins predate the novel and can be traced back to the Song dynasty.

500 years later, monsters attack a small village and a boy monk, sole survivor of a previous attack as a baby, flees to the mountains to save a baby girl. The boy stumbles into the cave where the Monkey King was imprisoned and unknowingly, releases him from his curse. However, a remnant of Buddha's seal prevents Sun Wukong from regaining his full powers. Despite being restricted by Buddha's seal, Sun Wukong fights bravely against the monsters to protect the children who implicitly trust him.

However, events escalate and the girl is abducted by the leader of the monsters, who easily overcomes Sun Wukong, due to his powers being suppressed by Buddha's seal. It is shown that the Monster Lord plans to refine the baby girl and the other recently abducted babies into elixirs, like the previous batches of babies which were abducted & sacrificed over the years. In the process of rescuing her and the other babies who were kidnapped by the monsters, the young boy is killed.

On seeing his death, the Monkey King erupts into a full rage and forcibly breaks Buddha's Seal with sheer brute force, despite the seal still trying to suppress him. This returns his original supernatural powers to him and he easily defeats the Monster Lord.

As the story ends, it is revealed the young boy was not dead, but was only seriously injured and had fallen unconscious. The abducted children are returned to their families by the boy monk and his teacher (who had somehow tracked him to the monster's lair) on floating clouds summoned by the Monkey King. However, Sun Wukong himself does not appear in this scene and it is not shown or stated where he has disappeared off to.

Cast[edit]

Monkey King Quest For Sutra Song By 2

Crowdfunding[edit]

7.8 million yuan ($1.23 million) of the film's marketing costs was raised through crowdfunding, in exchange for listing of 109 producers (many of whom are children) in the film's credits.^[7][8]

Awards and nominations[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^Amidi, Amid (July 26, 2015). 'Breaking: 'Monkey King' Breaks Chinese Record, Surpasses 'Kung Fu Panda 2′'. Cartoon Brew. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
2. ^Patrick Brzeski (August 31, 2015). 'China Box Office: 'Terminator Genisys' Marches Towards $100M'. The Hollywood Reporter. (Prometheus Global Media). Retrieved September 1, 2015.
3. ^'Forget 'Minions,' 'Monster Hunt' and 'Monkey King' Smash Chinese Box Office Records'. Cartoon Brew. 2015-07-19. Retrieved 2015-07-19.
4. ^《大圣归来》概念美术赏 水墨油彩风格多变 东方意境跃然纸上. mtime.com. 2015-07-15. Retrieved 2015-07-19.
5. ^Jonathan Papish (January 29, 2016). 'On Screen China: Let the Bear Hug Commence—'Kung Fu Panda 3''. China Film Insider. Retrieved January 29, 2016.
6. ^Nancy Tartaglione (January 30, 2016). ''Kung Fu Panda 3' In China At $40M+ Through Saturday; Eyes Record Animation Debut'. Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
7. ^'Crowdfunding tastes blood in movie market-Industries-chinadaily.com.cn'. chinadaily.com.cn.
8. ^'Film fans crowdfund new blockbuster hits-Business-chinadaily.com.cn'. chinadaily.com.cn.
9. ^'Golden Rooster Awards (2015)'. Retrieved 2015-12-13.
10. ^'第二届丝绸之路国际电影节'在福州落幕. www.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2015-12-13.
11. ^ ^ab第12届中国动漫金龙奖获奖名单揭晓. southern.com. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
12. ^'Sichuan TV Festival (2015)'. Retrieved 2015-12-13.
13. ^'Golden Horse Film Festival (2015)'. Retrieved 2015-12-13.

External links[edit]

• Monkey King: Hero Is Back on IMDb

When I first heard news of a new Journey to the West series, I was thrilled since I enjoyed the first two that TVB produced. But when I saw the poster hanging on the walls of the video store, I became skeptical. On the poster, it shows Dicky Cheung in a white costume with silver armor, Edmund Leung as the monk, and Eric Kot with Sam Lee as the other two disciples. Behind them was a plain cloud with Twins, Nicholas Tse, William So, Kristy Yeung, Sammi Cheng and other major Hong Kong stars. This reduced my high expectations for the serial.

Though I had much hesitation at first, I decided to give this serial a chance to prove it's worth. A few weeks later, I regretted that decision.

Just to be clear, this review is not meant to be an in-depth analysis of the plot and characters (if there's even enough to search for depth) nor is it an episodic guide to the series. However, there are spoilers within so discontinue reading if you have not watched the serial.

For those who do not know, Monkey King: Quest for the Sutra is a Taiwan serial that’s distributed by TVB. TVB is known for their reputation in creating really appealing serials and it's one of the bigger competitors in TV serial productions. So it was a wise choice to ask TVB to help distribute the serial in order to promote it.

This series had a budget of over a million dollars, making it the most expensive produced. With a million dollars, TVB would kill the ratings if they used it on a series. Heck, even ATV could! However, the Taiwan production company failed to make this series any good despite the great budget. Why, you ask? For one thing, most of the money was used on Asia's hottest superstars for cameo appearances, which brings up my first point as to why this series was such a disgrace.

This series was star-studded. The only other series in my mind that contained so many celebrities was Chor Lau Heung 2000 and that was a big flop. I can't understand why Taiwan keeps doing this. They always get big name stars to play cameo roles (Ekin Cheng, Dicky Cheung, Joey Meng, Kristy Yeung in Chor 2000) whereas any other no name actors could do the same and would have been much more cost and screen effective. Now many of you may ask, how can Nicholas Tse, Twins, William So, Sammi Cheng, and Andy Hui be a bad thing? They're so hot! Well that's the thing: looks are all they have. Over half of them have no acting experience and those who do, are mediocre (Twins in those mediocre teeny bopper movies). In addition, they're singers, not actors. That alone should already be logical enough to not hire them. Also if big name celebrities were to be cast, they should be given appropriate roles, William So does not strike me as the Dragon King of the Eastern Seas. Basically, all this money is wasted on stars whereas small name actors would’ve cost less and could've had the same if not better result.

Monkey King Quest For Sutra Song By The Sea

Which brings me to my second point: the visual effects. They were just plain horrible. The spirits were in the form of colored balls of light. Any animal in the form of the demons were done by CGI; and even the final villain, the almighty, powerful and utmost evil Demon Lord was CGI. Most of the set was just a green screen and the stars (yes, I refuse to call them actors) just let the computer do all the work. And these poor effects were the result of low budget. But what happened to the million dollars, you ask? Well, I think hiring Nicholas Tse for the twenty minutes of screen time probably cost more than the effects combined. You get my point.

Another poor factor: costumes. Dicky's costume was a white jumpsuit with silver armor. The monk's costume was not much different in colour. Even his special toga is plain and not appealing to the eye. And there was one thing that really irritated me. The Monkey King's weapon, the Golden Baton; it’s not even gold, it’s silver. Half the time it's CGI and what's even more ridiculous is that it can transform into nunchucks. Although I must say, the costumes of the Gods were impressive.

Lastly, the plot and the pace of the story are disgusting. It took four tapes to explain the Monkey King's origin. Plus, those four tapes gave us a summary of La Ja's story from TVB's Gods of Honour. Some of the chapters moved so fast since it was practically a repeat of the chapters done in TVB's Journey to the West I and II. There's nothing interesting or refreshing about this series that keeps me wanting to watch. Some criticized that the Monkey King falling in love with the Purple Orchid is ridiculous since he's supposed to be hard on the subject of love. However, the way it's done here made it somewhat acceptable. The Moneky King is supposedly in his early stages of learning the ways of Buddha and the three hairs falling off of him before gaining enlightment justifies his love interest. Although the chemistry between Dicky and Charlene Choi is good, it's still not the same seeing the Monkey King all gushy. Remember Dicky's portrayal in JTTWI with Rain Lau???

The fight sequences were below average except for the fight in Heaven between Monkey King and La Ja. This was pure hand-to-hand combat, with very little magic used and no weapons. There were so many chances for great fight scenes that could've satisfied our questions regarding which God will prevail in a fight or which demon will take down which God etc. One such example was La Ja versus the Ox King but that fight was cut down to mere seconds showing next to nothing worth or fighting footage. Even the most interesting fight between Monkey King and the Yeung Jien, the Three Eye God consisted mostly of CGI.

The theme song was stupid for such a serial. Andy Lau and Dicky rapping to a mythical legend...enough said. The sub-theme was pretty good but not great. Mind you, I love that song and it's great for those who like easy listening but it's nothing special compared to other themes by artists such as Gallen Lo, Jacky Cheung, or William So.

And this pretty much summarizes the review. This serial was a disaster due to misuse of a large budget, horrible acting, mediocre CGI, unappealing costumes, slow plot that was repetitive, and some bad fight sequences.

The Monkey King Quest For Sutra

Screenshots:http://www.tvb.com